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Post by spiderwort on Aug 5, 2017 0:20:05 GMT
How Green Was My Valley (1941)This is my favorite John Ford film. I love it, because it's beautiful, and because it tells fundamental truths about the human condition that are timeless, universal, and will never be "outdated," despite the period in which they are set. And it has wonderful performances by Maureen O'Hara, Walter Pidgeon, Roddy McDowall, and all the cast. Additionally, its lyrical visual beauty is a sight to behold. It's elegiac, subtle, and significant. I will be forever grateful that John Ford chose to make it, and in that, created a cinematic work of art.
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Post by petrolino on Aug 5, 2017 0:25:41 GMT
Do you like the music by Alfred Newman? Deep, spiritual and foreboding.
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Post by petrolino on Aug 5, 2017 0:37:36 GMT
Do you like the music by Alfred Newman? Deep, spiritual and foreboding. Oh, yes, indeed. It's all that you say and also very beautiful. Adds to the timeless quality of the film. As does Arthur C. Miller's cinematography. Too bad Ford wasn't able to shoot it in Wales, because of the war. But the hills of Malibu, Ca., stood in very well, thanks to some great art direction. Art director Nathan Juran went on to a fine career directing and thankfully sold his soul to genre. I'm a big fan of Arthur C. Miller, often eclipsed in the history books by that other (equally great) dude Arthur Miller. He was known as one of the best lighting operators in the business. |
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Post by wmcclain on Aug 5, 2017 0:50:27 GMT
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Post by petrolino on Aug 5, 2017 1:00:46 GMT
Another love letter to the Celts, although more sad and bitter than The Quiet Man (1952). "At first the childhood reminiscences are idyllic: a large loving family in a Welsh coal mining town, before the mines grew to absorb the whole valley. Wide-eyed Roddy McDowall is an outstanding child actor, bringing our own innocent age back to us."
- wmcclain
Which do you prefer of these 2 John Ford classics, wmcclain - 'How Green Was My Valley' or 'The Quiet Man'? |
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Post by wmcclain on Aug 5, 2017 1:08:28 GMT
Which do you prefer of these 2 John Ford classics, wmcclain - 'How Green Was My Valley' or 'The Quiet Man'? I'm more likely to see The Quiet Man, simply because a romantic comedy is easier to take than such a poignant drama. (I'm bad at that type of question). |
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Post by petrolino on Aug 5, 2017 1:28:16 GMT
Which do you prefer of these 2 John Ford classics, wmcclain - 'How Green Was My Valley' or 'The Quiet Man'? I'm more likely to see The Quiet Man, simply because a romantic comedy is easier to take than such a poignant drama. (I'm bad at that type of question). I think I understand where you're coming from here, wmcclain. I know I need to be in the right kind of mood to willingly negotiate a heavy drama. {Hope you're having a nice weekend - thanks.} |
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Post by teleadm on Aug 5, 2017 13:55:31 GMT
I love this movie too!!! It's such a rich story with many characters intervining the tale. The first time I watched it I was a little taken back by the obvious matte paintings of the village, but on the other hand, it's a grown man remembering back, and maybe that's the way he remembers it. There is a funny, well orchestrated end of the week bathing scene. If the movie got to heavy, there was Cyfartha and Dai Bando to balance it up. The fair priest, the beautiful Angharad, Bronwyn with her cookies, Daddy Morgan who don't believe in banks and that many should be spent, Mama Morgan who gets so sad when son after son leaves the household when the going gets tough. And offcourse Huw, who tells his story to us as he remembers it and asks us the question: How Green Was My Valley?, How Green Was It?  It's called Valley, yet the Swedish poster show hills. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2017 15:08:21 GMT
A good movie
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🎄😷🎄 on Feb 19, 2018 15:48:24 GMT
Having just seen How Green Was My Valley and The Quiet One for the first time each, weeks apart, I'm torn as to which one I favor more. I was prepared to hate How Green Was My Valley because it snagged the Best Picture Oscar from Citizen Kane, which I admit is a stupid reason to not like a movie. But it won me over, young Roddy McDowall just rips your heart out! Maureen O'Hara is gorgeous as always. And I bought that I was in Wales and not Malibu (the actual location it was filmed)!  |
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Post by telegonus on Feb 20, 2018 6:28:30 GMT
I loved How Green Was My Valley when I was a child, have not been able to sit through it in its entirety as an adult. Sometimes old movies, even old classic movies, are like that. I'm not saying I don't think it's good (or that it's overrated and all that), it just doesn't take off for me now.
The emotionalism (is there a better word for this?) is laid on too thick for my grownup tastes. As a kid I connected with it profoundly. Now I can't. The acting still fine by me. That's not it. Maybe it's that the film's lyricism, which felt so natural so many years ago, now feels forced.Still, it was beautifully made and well intentioned, was enormously popular in its day and still has many who admire it.
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Post by politicidal on Apr 6, 2018 14:34:57 GMT
Maybe I'll appreciate it better in the future but I could never get into this.
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🎄😷🎄 on Apr 8, 2018 14:44:52 GMT
How Green Was My Valley? Not so green, the picture was in black and white! Sorry, but I simply had to! 
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Post by kijii on Apr 8, 2018 16:57:01 GMT
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Post by kijii on Apr 8, 2018 17:06:07 GMT
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